The moral psychology of resource use

This chapter draws attention to an increasing pressure point in decision making around resource use and resource allocation. With a growing human population, the requirements for resources to meet basic human needs are increasing. At the same time, humans globally are becoming sensitive to the needs and rights of nonhumans, leading to an increased desire to protect natural environments and other species from harm. Focusing our analysis on the morality of human need satisfaction alone cannot account for the rapid rise of these organizations and the ways in which they are impacting on resource decision making. The field of moral psychology is growing, as is the field of environmental psychology, and believe that by bringing these two bodies of knowledge together it possible to make an important contribution, not only to the literature, but to public policy and public debate. Scholars have focused on resource dilemmas as social problems that exist between the competing needs of two human parties.